The Supreme Court today agreed to hear three cases on the issue of whether gay and transgender workers are protected under the federal anti-discrimination laws. As noted in a prior post, in Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., the en banc Second Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers New York) recently...
On March 18, 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law Senate Bill 121 (“S121”), amending the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJLAD”). The NJLAD is New Jersey’s central anti-discrimination law. NJLAD prohibits employers from discriminating against employees in any job-related action, including recruitment, interviewing, hiring, promotions, discharge, and...
Today is International Women's Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and also marking a call to action to accelerate gender parity. The first International Women's Day occurred in 1911 and is not specific to a country, group or organization, but rather belongs...
The U.S. Supreme Court has now ruled that a copyright owner can only file a complaint for copyright infringement after the Copyright Office has registered the work at issue, putting an end to a split among the federal circuit appellate courts on that issue. As I previously reported, while the...
As an update of my reporting concerning the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s controversial policy of seeking to recover attorneys’ fees in connection with district court review of denials of trademark and patent applications, the Supreme Court today granted the petition for certiorari in Iancu v. Nantkwest and agreed...
Recent developments in the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Alfonso Ribeiro, known for playing Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, against video game maker Epic Games confirm the questions raised in my prior post as to whether Ribeiro could register a copyright in the Carlton dance and bring a...
Over the last year, many states and localities have enacted new laws responding to the #MeToo movement, requiring employers to increase their vigilance in preventing and addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. For example, as of October 9, 2018, all New York State employers with even just one employee are...
At the Getting Real '18 conference last September, RPJ Partner Nicole Page moderated a panel entitled "After #MeToo," which was then profiled in Suz Curtis's article, "Slouching Towards Parity: Panelists Discuss Filmmaking in the #MeToo Era." Given recent changes to New York laws and the creation of The Gender-Based Anti-Harassment Unit...
The recent filing of a federal copyright infringement lawsuit by Alfonso Ribeiro—“Carlton” on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and YouTube celebrity, famous for "the Carlton,” his arm-swinging movements to the Tom Jones diddy "It’s Not Unusual"—raises the question of whether and to what extent choreographed dance moves can by copyrighted...
In a rare, but limited, win for employees on the issue of arbitration of employment disputes, a unanimous Supreme Court today ruled in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira that trucking company New Prime Inc. cannot compel arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in a class action alleging failure to...